Richard Moll, the 6-foot-2 actor who captivated television audiences with childlike charm in his role as a hulking bailiff on the NBC sitcom “Night Court,” died Thursday at his home in Big Bear Lake, California. He was 80 years old.
His death was confirmed Friday by his publicist Jeff Sanderson. The family did not give a reason.
In a career spanning more than four decades, Mr. Moll played a variety of roles in television shows and films. However, he is best known for portraying the bald, wide-eyed Aristotle Nostradamus (Taurus) Shannon in all nine seasons of Night Court, which ran from 1984 to 1992, and other hit television sitcoms such as The Cosby Show and The Cosby Show “ competed. The Golden Girls.”
Mr. Moll worked as an actor and voice actor until 2018. Photo credit: Kathy Hutchins/Hutchins Photo Agency, via Associated Press
Bull Shannon’s goofy personality lent an air of carefree innocence to the series, which is set in a fictional Manhattan municipal night court and stars: Harry Anderson, who played Judge Harry Stone, who died in 2018, and John Larroquette as District Attorney Dan Fielding.
Mr. Moll is “larger than life and taller too,” Mr. Larroquette said in a post on X on Friday.
Richard Charles Moll was born on January 13, 1943 in Pasadena, California to Harry and Violet Moll. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1964 with a degree in history, ignoring his father’s desire to pursue a career in law to pursue acting.
He began working in theater, appearing in Shakespeare plays in California. His first television and film roles came in the late 1970s, including a role in the 1977 film “Brigham” and an appearance in an episode of the television series “Welcome Back, Kotter” in 1978.
“Probably auditioning for ‘Night Court’ would be my first big break,” Mr. Moll said in a 2010 interview with MaximoTV. He noted that he was asked if he would be willing to shave his head for the role.
“I said, ‘Are you kidding?’ “, he remembered. “‘I’ll shave my legs for the role. I’m going to shave my armpits. I do not care.'”
After “Night Court” ended in 1992, Mr. Moll worked as a voice actor for several animated films, including as Two-Face, a deranged mug-wearing villain in “The Adventures of Batman and Robin” on Fox. and as Scorpion, one of the many enemies in “Spider-Man: The Animated Series,” on the same network.
Although Mr. Moll is best known for his comedic work, including films like “Scary Movie 2” and “But I’m a Cheerleader,” he has also appeared in horror and science fiction films. His first major film roles included the 1985 horror film “House” and the 1986 indie fantasy “The Dungeonmaster.”
According to IMDb, Mr. Moll was still working as an actor and voice actor in 2018. His last notable appearance was in the 2010 live-action film Scooby-Doo: Curse of the Sea Monster, in which he played the mysterious lighthouse keeper Elmer Uggins.
Mr. Moll retired to Big Bear Lake in the Southern California mountains, where his family said he enjoyed the idyllic scenery and pursued his love of bird watching.
He is survived by a daughter, Chloe Moll; a son, Mason Moll; his ex-wife, Susan Moll; and two stepchildren, Cassandra Card and Morgan Ostling.